Texts in Conversation
Sirach teaches humility as the way to honor, and the Christian theologian Augustine quotes it in the Confessions when teaching the necessity of humility, demonstrating how he uses it as an authoritative source for teaching.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 3:17
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
15 In the day of your affliction it will be remembered for you, as fair weather upon ice, so your sins will also melt away. 16 He who forsakes his father is as a blasphemer. He who provokes his mother is cursed by the Lord. 17 My son, go on with your business in humility; so you will be loved by an acceptable man. 18 The greater you are, humble yourself the more, and you will find favor before the Lord. 20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Augustine, Confessions 13.21
Early Christian
But your Word, God, is a fountain of life eternal, and it does not pass away. Therefore, this desertion is restrained by your Word when it says to us, "Do not be conformed to this world," so that "the earth" may bring forth a "living soul" in the fountain of life—a soul disciplined by your Word, by your evangelists, by the following of the followers of your Christ. For this is the meaning of "after his kind." A man tends to follow the example of his friend. Thus, he [Paul] says, "Become as I am, because I have become as you are." Thus, in this "living soul" there shall be good beasts, acting meekly. For you have commanded this, saying: "Do your work in meekness and you shall be loved by all men." And the cattle will be good, for if they eat much they shall not suffer from satiety; and if they do not eat at all they will suffer no lack. And the serpents will be good, not poisonous to do harm, but only cunning in their watchfulness—exploring only as much of this temporal nature as is necessary in order that the eternal nature may "be clearly seen, understood through the things that have been made." For all these animals will obey reason when, having been restrained from their death-dealing ways, they live and become good.
Date: 397–400 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... As to Augustine’s use of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, it is striking that more than once he quotes a text that is somewhat different from the Vetus Latina, which for the Book of Ben Sira, serves as the traditional Latin text. Since Augustine’s quotations from the Book of Ben Sira have more than once been brought in line with the Greek translation, a thorough investigation into this phenomenon is needed in order to find out whether he had (some) knowledge of the Greek text of the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Apart from Speculum in which Augustine for his quotations from the Book of Ben Sira usually follows the Latin, in his other works he rather frequently appears to correct the Latin Ben Sira quotations according to the Greek. An investigation into this intriguing question would be very useful. Such an in depth inquiry should also take into full consideration whether, and to what extent, St. Augustine has been influenced by a text type of Ecclesiasticus that was already used by St. Cyprian and has even been given its own siglum (K) by Thiele ..."
Pancratius C. Beentjes, “Saint Augustine's Sermons 38-41 on the Book of Ben Sira,” in The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition: Essays in Honour of Maarten J. J. Menken, ed. Bart Koet, Steven Moyise, and Joseph Verheyden, NovTSup 148 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 81–94.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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